randomness of a woman

Its been a very busy week …. I’m bushed and my body is totally whacked!!!

It is this period of time I wish our culture is so different than the ones I know presently …. I wished Eid is spent only for a day or two without us going thru the hassle of preparing so much for it. I’d rather hibernate in the last week of Ramadhan than having have to do so many chores and yet trying to maintain benefiting from the last days of Ramadhan.

It is now day 23 …. less than a week more to go and then it will be so long … till next time if Allah s.w.t. wills it.

My poor hubby is having a trial starting from the past week till now…. he has been on MC on and off due to swollen toes and swollen feet. His pain threshold was usually high but this time he could not stand it and initiated the idea to see the doctor. Usually it was me who will nagged him to go see the doctor whenever he was sick but this time he sounds out before I could do so.

In fact, tonight after breaking fast, he has asked me to bring him to the hospital. So we decided to go to NTF hospital in Jurong. What time we will be going will depend on when he comes back from work. His management has been kind to allow him to wear slippers to work since he is not able to wear safety boots nor any kind of shoes right now.

Hubby is worried about being on MC for many days … he is afraid he will be earning less because of the MCs. I told him not to worry about that, whatever happens we will just have to cope and insya;Allah we will. Most important is for him to find a cure and we hope seeing the doctor in the hospital will be able to help, insya’Allah. Before this, he had already been to the polyclinic a few times and a blood test had already been done to test whether he had diabetes. Alhamdulillah, no diabetes, so now rather than keep going to the polyclinic, it’s to the hospital instead.

I just hope the A&E dept. won’t be crowded and we could come home as soon as possible. More importantly I hope there’s a cure for his illness.

May Allah s.w.t. give ease to us in these remaining days within the blessed month. Aamiin ….

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Alhamdulillah …. its the 15th day of fasting and tonight, we had iftar at my 3rd sister’s abode. A request made by my eldest nephew who had missed the first family iftar the other day. He made the request to my sister right after the day after our recent family iftar hehee …. I supposed he must have truly wanted it … must have missed the bonding and ambience of family gathering so much that he wanted a chance to attend another family gathering 😉

This time, our menu was akin to Nasi Ambeng style. My sister cooked the rice, sotong sambal, urap, and sambal goreng. My eldest niece-in-law cooked ayam merah. I made the begedel (potato cutlets) and sardines puff. There was even epok-epok sayur, fried banana wif condensed milk and chocolate and karipap.

The iiftar dishes and surprised birthday cake for us 🙂

After the iftar, the June babies had a surprised waiting 😉

The family members had bought a cake to celebrate our birthday …. Thank you Everyone! 🙂

Well, ok enough on the iftar topic.

Day 15 of Ramadhan …. I can’t believe how fast the time really flies. It’s like only yesterday we started our fasting and now we are in the middle of the month and soon the blessed month will say goodbye to us all 😦

Not looking forward to it …. really really not looking forward to it but really have no choice but to go through it. Hoping that the Almighty will bestow on us all another chance to see the blessed month next year, insya’Allah!

Recently, a colleague recommended me to watch the Halaqah series by TV9. You can find the videos via Youtube. You need to just type “Halaqah 2016” or “Halaqah 2017”. I would highly recommended our muslim brothers and sisters to watch this. Its in Malay and the series is an eye-opener for me. Its like a revision and yet at the same time, I learn a lot more new information from it. The Halaqah 2016 touched on the topic of “kiamat” (the end of the world). Believing in “Kiamat”, is the 5th pillar of Iman (faith). The discussion and shared knowledge were very in-depth and supported by verses in the Quran and Hadith. In between there were also comparison on the findings of science that matched what were mentioned in the Quran. Subhanallah!

Halaqah 2017 moved on to touch on the topic of death, after death and life in the hereafter. Another thought provoking topics and mind-blowing. Alhamdulillah!

I hope many of our brothers and sisters will watch this series. It’s truly beneficial and hopefully will encourage us to continue auditing ourselves to become a better person and servant. Insya’Allah!

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Remember the post I wrote on having 20 wishes but I choose to start with 5 wishes first?

Well, I am happy to share the news that I have managed to fulfill 2 out of the 5 wishes and a 3rd wish is about to become fulfill, insya’Allah, sometime in September this year. But this 3rd wish will be an on-going one until I truly fulfill all of its criteria 😉

With the above, I am left with only 2 more wishes to fulfill and then I will have to start thinking of the next 5 wishes, wishes 6-10. Insya’Allah!

So what were the 2 wishes I was able to fulfill? The two wishes were wish number 1 and 4.

1st wish: To buy a new oven.
Alhamdulillah …. Thanks to my eldest sister, I was able to have a new oven, much earlier than I plan. It arrived exactly on my birthday, which is today 🙂

My new oven … loving it 🙂 Its bigger than the old one.

This year is the 2nd time I’m celebrating my birthday during the month of Ramadhan and this year, its a bit special to me cos it actually falls on Thursday, the actual day of my birth!
Alhamdulillah …. I thanked Allah s.w.t for the gift of time given to me.

4th wish: To do more volunteering works
I was able to do more volunteering works during Ramadhan …. I volunteered to become a “kitchen-aid” 🙂
Once a week, I went down to help prepare the ingredients for the “bubur” (porridge). The porridge once cooked, were packed and distributed to the community in our area.

Volunteers at work …. 🙂

Ok insya’Allah will update more regarding the wish list sometime in September, after I have done the first part of the wish 😉

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Yesterday our family held an iftar session at my abode. Not everyone was able to come. Nevertheless, it was still fun gathering and breaking our fast together.

Snaps of the iftar … (photo taken by my niece Suria)

Our main menu was Gado-Gado, provided by yours truly. The rest of the foods such as otah-otah, takoyaki, Nasi jagung dan lauk pauknya, donut, home-made ice-cream were brought by my sister, nieces and nephews. My girls had fun making the takoyaki real-time with her cousins 🙂

Home made takoyaki … my niece, Aishah brought along the electric maker over to the house and made them on the spot, together with her two assistance (my eldest and Nisa)

This year, Alhamdulillah, even though not all were able to come, we still had our 3 generations of the Mahmood family together and of course, the kids, our 3rd generation of the Mahmood clan were the stars of the day 🙂

During our meet-up, we also took the opportunity to discuss the plan for our family Raya outing. Another annual event that usually happens during the 2nd day of Eid or 1st weekend of Eid.

This year marked the 4th year we plan our outing together by renting a mini bus (which include the driver). Also, this will be the 2nd year in a row, our eldest sister and BIL will be joining us. Insya’Allah, they will be coming down from Brunei on the eve of Eid itself.

Looking forward to Eid and yet at the same time I’m reluctant for Ramadhan to leave. I am grateful for being able to live and experience this year’s Ramadhan. Before the arrival of the blessed month, I was not confident of being able to do what I should be doing but Allah s.w.t., being the Most Merciful has continue to surprise and shower me with His mercy and blessings. I am humbled by my experience and the opportunity given to me. It is more that I had hope for. Alhamdulillah Ya Rabb!

Hoping the coming days will be fruitful for us all as well and continue onwards even beyond Ramadhan!

Before I end this post, I’m just going to share a quote from one of the Sahabah, Abdullah Bin Mas’ud r.a., which I am typing it down in Malay. This quote, is more of a reminder to myself which I hope I will be able to hold tight insya’Allah!

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Alhamdulillah it is now Ramadhan and today marked the 3rd day of fasting.

May all of us strive to do the best we can to seek His blessings and make this year the best Ramadhan ever.

To begin with, as posted by many via IG and FB, and as I read them and reflected on the words shared by these wonderful people, I concurred that we all should begin our Ramadhan with a heart that seeks forgiveness from one another and a hope that we will receive forgiveness from others and forgiveness from the Almighty as well.

So I would like to take this opportunity to say, Dear Readers, I seek your forgiveness should I had offended you in one way or another while writing on this blog of mine. I also seek forgiveness from all who knows me personally. Please forgive me for any actions and words uttered that may have offended you. As humans, we are never far from making mistakes and thus, forgiving one another is something that we should make a habit. May the Almighty increase our iman, increase our sabr and bestow His mercy and blessings to all mankind, for He is the Most Benevolent, Compassionate and Forgiving. Aamiin aamiin aamiin Ya Rabb!

Ramadhan is a month that we all need. For it opens the opportunity to start fresh and it provides the opportunity for us to focus and increase our spirituality growth. It is also during this month, that many families will organise iftar (breaking the fast) together. The act of breaking the fasting together, encourages the act of bonding among family members. It is not just about eating together but more importantly it is about the opportunity to interact and perform prayers together.

This is something I always look forward to. With our parents no longer with us, it is imperative that our siblings remain in contact and bond whenever we can. This is also the time when 3 generations within the family get together and everyone gets the opportunity to keep in touch with one another. Family bonding is an effort. If nobody bothers to keep it up, then it is a lost cause to us all. Last year, we had the iftar gathering at my 3rd sister’s abode. This year, our family volunteer to become the host 🙂

I am looking forward to the event and I hope you too will have a great time bonding with your families and have a wonderful and fruitful time in this blessed month.